1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic exposure and development system and, particularly, to a system wherein an accumulator compensates for differences in the operational speed of a printer, which exposes a photographic media with the desired image, and a processor, which develops the image exposed on the media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Photographic printers and processors are known in the prior art. In the former, the photographic media is exposed with a desired image while the latter develops the image exposed on the media by the printer.
Advancing technology has provided a significant increase in the exposure speed of modern printers. However, the processing of an exposed image to a developed print remains a chemical process which requires a predetermined time, independent of the speed of the printing or exposure operation. As a result, modern printers are capable of exposing a significantly greater amount of photographic material during a given interval than current processors are capable of processing, during that same interval. Thus, to integrate current printers and processors into a system, it has been necessary to provide an interface which will compensate for the differences in printer and processor operational speeds.
One approach to compensate for the relative slowness of the processor has been referred to by those familiar in the art as a "dealer". In these systems, exposed photographic media is accepted from the printer in sheet form and distributed across a conveyor such that multiple sheets that were exposed at different times are processed by the processor at the same time. In such systems, the distribution or placement of the exposed media is a complex mechanical operation that often results in a "dropping" of one or more of the sheet form media to be processed, prior to reaching the processor.
An alternative to the "dealer," discussed above, operates on a web of exposed photographic media and provides a variable length travel path so as to accumulate the media at the rate it is discharged from the printer while feeding the media to the processor at its operational speed. This is accomplished by forming loops intermediate the printer and processor, as through the use of movable rollers which establish the loops and move to vary the loop dimensions in accordance with the relative operational speeds of the printer and processor. Clearly, such a system is restricted to use with a printer in which the photographic media to be exposed is in web form, typically carried by a supply roll, in known manner. Further, the space requirements for such a system are often significant which renders the system impractical in some environments.